I once saw a program on how Ham is made. The flavor of ham is added to the cut of meat. Without it, ham just tastes like a pork pot roast.

This makes me wonder if people used to have recipes for whatever they would treat ham with before cooking it. You know, back in the days before it was commercially produced on a large-scale.

Did farm wives make their own, did people in town buy it with flavor added or did they make their own? Was it basted on or marinated? Now days it is injected. Did they actually do that back in the day?

Now comes the ultimate question. Who decided which flavor to use when large-scale production started? Who decided what the ham flavor, that we now all know now, should taste like?

Edited.

Someone did contact me to say that historically it would be soaked in a brine and smoked. Which is how my dad makes jerky. My dad’s jerky is thick cut so it is meaty once dried and not like a piece of leather. My dad makes the best jerky.